A top Democratic senator and Social Security advocates are up in arms over news that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has granted the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, headed by Elon Musk, access to Treasury's payment systems, which process Social Security and Medicare benefits.
"Sources tell my office that Treasury Secretary Bessent has granted DOGE *full* access to this system," Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, said Friday on Bluesky. "Social Security and Medicare benefits, grants, payments to government contractors, including those that compete directly with Musk's own companies. All of it."
Wyden told Bessent his concerns Friday in a letter.
A confrontation over access to the system, Wyden wrote, "apparently resulted in the abrupt resignation of David Lebryk, a career non-partisan Treasury official who recently had been named acting Secretary of the Treasury by President Trump. These reports are particularly concerning given incidents earlier this week in which Medicaid portals in all 50 states were shut down along with other crucial payment programs, following the Trump Administration illegally issuing an order to freeze all grant and loan payments."
Reuters reported that Musk and his government efficiency team "have been given access to the U.S. Treasury Department’s payment system, resolving a days-long standoff," quoting a New York Times article from Saturday. Musk's efforts were resisted by Lebryk, "who was placed on leave this week and then retired," Reuters said Saturday. On Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave Musk’s team access, the Times reported.
The Bureau of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems "control the flow of more than $6 trillion in annual payments to households, businesses and other entities nationwide," Wyden said in the letter. "These payment systems process more than a billion payments annually and are responsible for the distribution of Social Security and Medicare benefits, tax refunds, payments to federal employees and contractors, including competitors of Musk-owned companies, and thousands of other functions. To put it bluntly, these payment systems simply cannot fail, and any politically-motivated meddling in them risks severe damage to our country and the economy."
Continued Wyden: "Whether intentional or unintentional, failure of these payment systems could stop Social Security checks from being sent to retirees who need to pay bills and buy food and drugs. It could stop paychecks from being sent to our troops and their families. As you well know, Americans are in the middle of tax filing season, with many counting on tax refunds that they are legally owed by the government."
Wyden told Bessent to answer a list of questions by Feb. 12 "in order to better understand the risks posed by Musk’s and DOGE’s efforts to gain access to the Fiscal Service’s payment systems."
Wyden questioned whether officials associated with Musk or DOGE requested access to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service’s payment systems, and if so, the identities of those individuals. Also, Wyden asked whether Treasury granted access to officials associated with Musk or DOGE, and the department's legal authority and reasoning if so.
'Unelected Billionaire'
"American seniors, their families, and people with disabilities have every reason to be alarmed by Elon Musk’s takeover of the U.S. Department of Treasury’s payment system, which is responsible for paying Social Security benefits," Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, told ThinkAdvisor Monday.
"The un-elected billionaire, who has no legal role in the U.S. government" but heads DOGE, along with "his newly-installed minions in the Treasury Department, now have access to the personal information of every Social Security beneficiary — and the ability to stop payments for any programs they dislike," Richtman said in an email.
Social Security Works told ThinkAdvisor in another email Monday that the group is "laser focused on fighting Elon Musk's takeover at Treasury."
Musk's goal "is reportedly to turn off payments to programs (or individuals) he deems unworthy which is illegal, and very dangerous for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid," Social Security Works said.
Social Security Works is "supporting this effort from Indivisible and other organizations to organize protests at Senators' state offices this week," the group said.
Added Richtman: "Trump’s promise not to touch Social Security should be of little comfort to the 68 million Americans who depend on their monthly benefits, especially since the president and his aides do not seem to consider Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) to be part of Social Security. Musk could turn off SSDI payments at his whim. Musk’s team also could stop payments to programs touching the lives of millions of seniors, including Medicaid and Meals on Wheels."
Richtman said the group hopes that the courts "will halt this effort to hijack the Treasury Department’s payment system for blatantly political purposes."
Elon Musk. Trevor Cokley/U.S. Air Force via Wikimedia Commons
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